curmudgeon - It's not really all that surprising how negatively Republicans think about Obama. It means that Republicans hate and despise Obama about as much as Democrats used to hate and despise Bush and Cheney. That's tit for tat.

That is exactly what happens when one has an eternally divisive 2 party political system designed from the getgo on the "divide and conquer" principle...or what might better be termed "the politics of hatred".

Obama made great efforts to encourage bipartisanship, but there was almost no chance of any such thing occurring in the poisonous atmosphere of American partisan politics. The only time I've seen much in the way of genuine bipartisan spirit in the USA was immediately after a major foreign attack (or at least a perceived foreign attack...) on the USA. That is the one thing which appears to be capalbe of uniting Democrats and Republicans. Aside from that, they might as well be red ants and black ants living in neighbouring hives, because they live to destroy one another.

Obama didn't think that way...but I bet he's learning to now in the wake of this health care bill. You either get tough in that shark pool or you don't survive long.